Chapter 1

The steak was sizzling in the pan, the smell of garlic and butter filling our small apartment.

I had spent my last forty dollars on this meal. A thick-cut ribeye, a bottle of decent red wine, and a small, rich chocolate cake.

Tonight was the night. Liam, my boyfriend of three years, had finally secured the multi-million dollar investment for his tech startup.

Three years of my life. Three years of working two, sometimes three, menial jobs to keep a roof over our heads while he chased his dream.

I believed in him. I believed in us.

Just a few days ago, a news report about a corporate merger had flashed on the breakroom TV at the diner. A face I hadn't seen in years, my grandfather's, stared out at me. The sight was like a key turning a rusted lock in my mind. Everything came rushing back: the Sterling-Vance empire, the skiing accident, the life I' d forgotten.

I was Ava Vance, the sole heiress.

I was going to tell Liam tonight. I imagined his shock, then his joy. We were finally going to have everything we ever dreamed of.

The sound of the key in the lock made me smile. I turned the heat off, ready to greet him.

But he didn't walk in alone.

A woman stood beside him, her arm linked through his. She was tall, polished, and wore a white designer dress that probably cost more than our rent for six months. She looked around our cramped living room with a clear expression of disgust.

Liam didn't look at me. He looked at her, his face full of adoration.

"Liam? Who is this?" I asked, my voice small.

He finally turned his gaze on me. It was cold, dismissive.

"Ava, this is Chloe," he said, his tone flat. "Her father is my lead investor."

Then he dropped the bomb.

"And she's my fiancée. I'm leaving you."

I stared at him, the words not making sense. The smell of the burnt steak suddenly filled the air.

"What are you talking about? Fiancée? Liam, we've been together for three years."

Chloe laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. "Three years in this dump? How romantic."

Liam' s face twisted into a sneer. "Don't be delusional, Ava. That was a transaction. You needed a place to stay, and I needed a housekeeper."

He waved a hand around the room, at the worn-out sofa I' d found on the curb, at the pictures of us I had carefully framed.

"Look at you. Look at this place. You're an embarrassment. A simple, poor woman like you has no place in my new life."

The words hit me harder than any physical blow. I felt the floor drop out from under me.

"I worked for you," I whispered, the fight draining out of me. "I supported your dream."

"You did what you had to," he said, shrugging. "Now, my real life is starting. I need you to pack your things and be gone by morning. I'll have someone come by to... clean up."

He looked at me like I was a piece of trash he was finally taking out.

Three years.

I remembered the nights I' d stayed up with him, going over his presentations, the times I' d given him my last twenty dollars for his bus fare, the promises he made.

"Just a little longer, Ava," he' d say, holding me in our lumpy bed. "When my company takes off, I'll buy you a mansion. You'll never have to work another day in your life."

It was all a lie.

My love, my sacrifice, my entire life for the past three years... it was all a joke to him.